Sun Dec 08 18:51:04 UTC 2024: ## Thousands Freed from Aleppo Prison Recount Years of Torture Under Assad Regime
**Idlib, Syria** – Thousands of prisoners have been released from Aleppo Central Prison following a rebel offensive that led to the collapse of the Assad regime’s control over the facility. Survivors, speaking to Al Jazeera, have detailed harrowing accounts of torture, starvation, and abuse endured within Syria’s extensive prison network.
Among those freed are Hala (not her real name), imprisoned since 2019 on charges of “terrorism,” and Safi al-Yassin, serving a 31-year sentence for participating in 2011 protests. Both described their immense joy at liberation, likening it to a rebirth. Al-Yassin, a former blacksmith, spent time in the notorious Saydnaya prison, described by Amnesty International as a “human slaughterhouse,” where he witnessed unspeakable horrors.
Maher (also using a pseudonym), arrested in 2017 for “funding terrorism,” recounted years of brutal torture and the shocking encounter with a mentally ill relative in Mezzeh Prison, his brother-in-law, who had lost his legs and his mind.
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, over 136,614 individuals were incarcerated in Syria’s prisons before the rebel advance. The accounts corroborate previous reports from Human Rights Watch, which documented widespread torture and crimes against humanity within Syrian government detention facilities.
The prisoners’ testimonies provide chilling evidence of the Assad regime’s systematic use of torture and inhumane treatment against its opponents. The mass release offers a glimpse into the scale of suffering inflicted within the regime’s prison system and raises urgent concerns about accountability for past human rights abuses. The sudden liberation, orchestrated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces, has left many questioning the future of those formerly imprisoned and the overall trajectory of the Syrian conflict.
First Piper 